Protein isoform-specific validation defines multiple chloride intracellular channel and tropomyosin isoforms as serological biomarkers of ovarian cancer

New serological biomarkers for early detection and clinical management of ovarian cancer are urgently needed, and many candidates have been reported. A major challenge frequently encountered when validating candidates in patients is establishing quantitative assays that distinguish between highly homologous proteins. The current study tested whether multiple members of two recently discovered ovarian cancer biomarker protein families, chloride intracellular channel (CLIC) proteins and tropomyosins (TPM), were detectable in ovarian cancer patient sera. A multiplexed, label-free multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) assay was established to target peptides specific to all detected CLIC and TPM family members, and their serum levels were quantitated for ovarian cancer patients and non-cancer controls. In addition to CLIC1 and TPM1, which were the proteins initially discovered in a xenograft mouse model, CLIC4, TPM2, TPM3, and TPM4 were present in ovarian cancer patient sera at significantly elevated levels compared with controls. Some of the additional biomarkers identified in this homolog-centric verification and validation approach may be superior to the previously identified biomarkers at discriminating between ovarian cancer and non-cancer patients. This demonstrates the importance of considering all potential protein homologs and using quantitative assays for cancer biomarker validation with well-defined isoform specificity.

Biological significance: This manuscript addresses the importance of distinguishing between protein homologs and isoforms when identifying and validating cancer biomarkers in plasma or serum. Specifically, it describes the use of targeted in-depth LC-MS/MS analysis to determine the members of two protein families, chloride intracellular channel (CLIC) and tropomyosin (TPM) proteins that are detectable in sera of ovarian cancer patients. It then establishes a multiplexed isoform- and homology-specific MRM assay to quantify all observed gene products in these two protein families as well as many of the closely related tropomyosin isoforms. Using this assay, levels of all detected CLICs and TPMs were quantified in ovarian cancer patient and control subject sera. These results demonstrate that in addition to the previously known CLIC1, multiple tropomyosins and CLIC4 are promising new ovarian cancer biomarkers. Based on these initial validation studies, these new ovarian cancer biomarkers appear to be superior to most previously known ovarian cancer biomarkers.